Skein holder for yarn or the like



Nov. 28, 1950 M. W. NICHOLAS SKEIN ;HOLDER FOR YARN OR THE LIKE Filed 001;. 16, 1948 Patented Nov. 28, 1950 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE SKEIN HOLDER FOR YARN OR THE LIKE Mildred W. Nicholas, Denver, Colo.

Application October 16, 1948, Serial No. 54,913

1 Claim. 1

This invention relates to skein holders for yarn and crochet thread and the like, for use in unwinding such yarn or thread from the skeins, in which form they are commonly supplied to the markets and retailers, and winding same into the form of balls, for use by the purchaser, and in which form the yarn or thread cannot so readily become entangled in use. Heretofore, in the process of winding yarn and thread from skeins into balls, it was necessary either to loop the skein over the back of a chair and then walk around the chair in the operation of winding, or else to have another person support the skein on his hands and successively release the strands as they were wound up into balls.

It is, therefore, the object of the present invention to provide in a simple, compact and efficient form, a device by the use of which one person alone may easily and quickly wind 9. skein of yarn or thread into a ball.

Another object of the invention is to provide a device of the kind referred to and comprising a frame including a pair of narrow, flat and elongated arms of equal length, these arms being crossed medially at right angles and rigidly fastened together in the form of a Greek-cross, and horizontally and rotatably mounted at their cen tral point of crossing upon some suitable supporting base, and hooks mounted upon the outer ends of the arms and turned outwardly from the center of the device for holding a skein of yarn as looped thereover.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a skein holder of the kind referred to, the same comprising a pair of elongated, flat and narrow strips or slats of wood, plastic or other suitable material, these slats being crossed me dially and flatly upon each other and firmly joined at the crossing in the form of a Greekcross for providing four angularly extended skein holding arms, there being hooks at the outer ends of the arms for engaging a skein of yarn or thread as looped thereover, the four arms being parted transversely and medially and hinged together thereat for folding the outer ends flatly inward, the inner ends of the arms being slotted for receiving the hooks of the outer ends when the latter are folded inwardly, and a supporting base upon which the skein holder is rotatably mounted by means of a pivot pin or bolt passed centrally through the crossing of the said slats and into the said base.

With the stated objects in view, together with such additional objects and advantages as may be disclosed in the specification, attention is now directed to the accompanying drawing as embodying a preferred form of the invention, and wherein Figure 1 is a top plan view of the skein-holder as pivotally mounted upon a circular base or support, such as a jar top as mounted on a fruit jar.

Figure 2 is a side elevational view of the assembly of Figure 1 as taken on the line 2-2 thereof.

Figure 3 is a top plan view of the skein holder as removed from the fruit jar top, and with the four arms of the device folded inwardly, as for storage or transportation.

Figure 4 is a sectional detail of one of the arms of the skein holder as mounted upon a fruit jar cover or top, the said arm being folded inwardly as above referred to.

Figure 5 is a section on an enlarged scale, taken on the line 55 of Figure 3.

The skein holder comprising the subject matter of the present invention and herein referred to at 5, includes a fiat frame here shown as: a pair of elongated, flat and narrow slats 5a, 5b, crossed medially and flatly and firmly joined together at the crossing by screws 6, or by other means, in the form of a Greek cross, and thus providing four skein holding arms extended at right angles to each other as shown. These four arms are parted medially and transversely as indicated at 50, and are hinged together at the partings by hinges I, so that the outer ends of the arms may be folded down inwardly and flatly upon the inner ends of the arms, as shown in Figures 3 and 4. Skein engaging hooks 8 are secured upon the outer ends of the arms by means of nails or screws 8a passed through the down-turned ends of the under sides of the hooks longitudinally into the extremities of the arms, as shown at the left side of Figure 2. If preferred, however, these hooks may be adjustably mounted at the ends of the arms, as shown at Bl) at the right of Figure 2, by longitudinally slotting the ends of the arms, as at 5d and passing thumb-bolts 80 through the under sides of the hooks, through the slots 5d, and mounting thumb-nuts 8d upon the lower threaded ends of the bolts, as shown. Thus hooks so mounted may be moved inward or outward as desired and locked to such adjusted position. It is to be noted that the hooks are all turned outwardly, so that a skein of yarn, thread, or the like (not here shown) may be readily looped in place upon the out-spread arms. The inner ends of the arms are longitudinally slotted as at 5e, so that when the outer ends of the arms are o ed o n inwardly. the hooks will all enter the slots e, thus enabling the device to be folded together compactl for storage or transportation.

The holder or device as described is designed for mounting rotatably upon any suitable base or support. A very suitable and convenient form of such base, however, is a fruit jar such as here shown at H], and which is conventionally provided with a screw top or lid Illa. In mounting the skein holder upon such form of base, a pivot bolt ll (Figure 5) is passed centrally down through the crossing of the slats 5a, 5b, and centrally through the jar top or lid 100,, the nut I la being then turned up as desired, on the lower threaded end of the bolt. If desired, a flanged sleeve !2 may first be passed down through the slots and top, and then the bolt I I passed through this sleeve. Also, if desired, a bearing or pivot block [3 may be mounted between the holder and the jar top, as shown in Figures 2 and 5.

From the foregoing description, it is thought that the construction, use and operation of the skein holder will be fully understood. Qbviously, if desired, three or more slats, instead of two as here shown, might be crossed centrally together, and disposed radially, with skein engaging hooks mounted at their outer ends. Or, a flat, circular frame might be used, with hooks mounted around its margins. This device affords a very conven= ient means for supporting a skein of yarn or thread for winding into balls, and the device being foldable together in small space, can be readily carried around for use anywhere. In such use any suitable form of supporting base may be employed in lieu of the ;fruit jar and top as here shown. Or, since fruit jars with similar tops are found generally in most homes, the owner of a holder adapted for mounting upon such a fruit Jil m ht m r l un cre h r 1 12 at h own home and carry her skein holder with jar top attached, to the home of a neighbor, and

mount the device upon a fruit jar as provided for her there. If an empty jar is used, same may be filled with water as ballast, for supporting the jar to vertical position in use when the skein holder is mounted thereon.

While I have here shown and described a particular embodiment of the invention, the structural features thereof may be changed or m0di fied as desired, within the scope of the claim.

I claim:

A skein holder of the kind described, comprising a supporting base, a fiat frame rotatably mounted at its center upon the base and including a number of elongated flat slats crossed and joined centrally and flatly upon one another, skein engaging hooks mounted upon the outer ends of the slats, said slats being parted transversely and medially and hinged together at their partings to fold inwardly upon themselves, the inner ends of the slats being slotted for receiving said acks a t e ou er en f e s a s a e fglded q wn i wa d y MILDRED W. NICl-IQLAS.

REFERENCES 1m The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2, 61,943 Rogers Nov. 11, 1941 2,275,258 Hastings Mar. 3, 1942 FOREIGN PATENTS umber g lmt y t 2%,, 1 Th N h l nd May 5 i9 1 H5525 Great Br ta e 17. 1922 21 9 0 G eat B ita- Mar. 6. 1. 24 406,509 Great Britain Mar. l, 193'; 

